BZ55

Just thought I'd open a thread on first impressions and comments regarding Northern Strike...

In no particular order, here's some comments after playing each maps through on both sides...

- Goliaths are certainly an interesting new element. The interesting question will be come is if they disrupt balance and/or are annoying or too powerful. What's really interesting is that b/c they move so slow, an entire squad in one effectively takes the squad out of the game for a non-trivial period of time on big maps.

- "Liberation of Leipzig" (the blue/night map) seems to have a lot of potential, but the number of hiding spots for snipers sure seems daunting. The ambient color scheme (dark blue) of this maps offers a fresh, fun new kind of visibility impediment.

- The number of walkers on these maps seems pretty intense. When there's three walkers hanging out together, it's an ugly situation...

- "Bridge at Remagen" is just plain huge. So huge that unless it full with 48 vs 48 (or more), it doesn't seem like it'll be very fun. Combine its size with the fact that it's a walker fest...

- I like NS, but my primary concern is that these mega-maps wont be as fun to play unless the teams are also large (at least 48 vs 48). The second these maps empty out, they'll *really* empty out, so they'll be deadlocked to be empty. Thoughts?

- "Port Bavaria" is certainly cute with the whole APC/pod thing. The huge wide open spaces to get from one dock to another usually end up in death, so it's becomes really tough to move a squad around swiftly when there's enemies camped out.

- The whole lock/unlock UBC thing on "Liberation of Leipzig" and "Port Bavaria" seems freshly original but they may prove to be a bit dicy to deal with. I gotta believe that it'll be pretty tough for a team to get all the other flags (for a sustained period of time) to get the final flag (assuming the server is sufficiently populated and decently balanced). Also, even if one team does get all the flags to unlock the last one, the game is presumably already in a blowout state anyway (and the teams need balancing). The other comment I have is that present TG ROE currently prohibits UBC camping and vehicle theft, so this whole lock/unlock UBC thing makes things much more grey (especially since they're located very close to the other capturable flags). Personally, it seems to be a lose/lose situation: if you're trying to cap the BC and it just got locked and you happen to be standing next to a walker, it's not that unreasonable that you have the right to jump in. Also, no matter what our ROE says, there'll be a lot more "honest" violators (ie, players that violate the ROE without realizing it, such as in the situation above). It's seems like it'll be a tricky issue...

- Clearly, $10 is basically not much to pay for some fun new maps and vehicles. Let's face it, two combo meals at McDonalds cost more than this, so hopefully most TGs will spring for NS without much thought or complaint.


Andy

Zid

the maps sizes on leipzig and bavaria are good but remagen is 100 times better in the 32 player version.

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Snail88

what he said

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TheFatKidDeath

I've only played two of three three maps but I'm enjoying what I've played. I like the mix of vehicle (speedster has alot of potential) and infantry. Seems like you can move around with a vehicle but if your on foot you still have a chance with cover unlike Sid or Verdun say.

So, yes, worth the $10.

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Rhab

Definitely worth the 10 bucks, I had fun playing for the first time last night. As for my two cents, I had a lot of fun with the night map, whichever one that is. I love CQB and that map is great for that kind of play.

I was really looking forward to Bridge at Remagen because I'm a big military history junkie, unfortunately that map I enjoyed the least of all.

The other maps were fun but at the end of the night my brother and I went back to the old standards =)

The goliaths I'm not sure about yet. Right now they do seem quite powerful and at times were quite a pain in the rear when on the receiving end.

Frankly I'm holding any real impressions until I play NS on TG. I think you get really spoiled playing here at TG because often times it's so frustrating playing on other servers when you're so used to the level of game play and most significantly team work here at TG.

I'm sure my experience with these maps will change when playing on TG as compared to the servers I've played on last night.

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|TG-Irr|Rhab

DrakinClaw

SO WORTH THE $10!
My favorite, sorry i dont know the name, is the level where its in the mountain tops and the only way for the attacking side to enter is to be podded up with apcs! Friggin awsome. Me and FKD had a sick run with the speader! gotta love that hard hitting tv missle. I played untill my eyes hurt last night
Drakin

DrakinClaw

I hear ya, it is lame on other servers. I hate when people dont play as a team. You do know TG has demo server that plays non stop northern strike. I was playing with all the common people there last night. Check it out.
Drakin

kotecki

My first impressions are that the new maps are nice. I feel like they're a little more balanced and fleshed out than some other expansion pack maps.

The vehicles on the other hand are a different story.

My first impressions are that both of them are overpowered.
The goliath is almost unstopable. I pumped round after round of rail gun shots into it and barely scratched it, until i started targeting the repair panels first. The fact that it's so tough, is a spawn point, heal and rearms people, shoots MM makes me think that one on one this vehicle will destroy any ground based vehicle hands down. I mean the thing is a rolling fortress.

I guess the draw backs are that the EU can only have one at a time, and it is a huge target.

The Hachimoto is great. Its the complete opposite of the goliath. Small, highly maneuverable , and packed with firepower. I didn't realize how powerful the TV guided missile was until i went into a game by myself and shot one at a walker, it did around 60 damage to it! That's power! the grenade launcher also frags infantry so fast they don't know what hit them. I think the biggest advantage it has is there's something like four of them in the battle of remegen map. That means a full squad can be using three. I can only imagine the havoc they could cause. I look forward to mastering it with a buddy so i can tear people multiple new ones.

Exploding_Silver

I really like the longer games, way longer than the 15 min rush of conquest. The longer games change the dynamics considerably and put more emphasis on squad leaders to tacticaly execute plans because theres more time to set up a better defence or attack. More time actually slow down the game and encourages deeper tactics, or thats the way I see it.

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pedestrian01

I agree 100%. When I was Beta testing I hated NS but after I stepped back and looked at it, it wasn't the actual game I hated it was just the servers that I was playing on. Playing with TGers is like playing a whole different game almost.

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Red

If they really added time to each map thats great, my main gripe with 2142 was the short rounds. I guess EA will get my 10 bucks.....

Exploding_Silver

In conquest the game ended by one of two ways
1) clock runs out
2) tickets of one team run out

In the new game mode the clock is removed and the game just goes on until whenever the tickets goto zero for one team.

The end result is the games are considerably longer

Redbane, this new game mode started to make 2142 feel like old BF2 days and not quite the big rush of conquest, I like it.

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Zid

the maps are really good the game is fantastic i just played 2 of the best TG games ever.

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Rakkasan21

I actually really like NS it's a very nice change of pace. I had more fun then i've had in awhile last night. Now if only the military hired game developers for the weapons programs....we could have a goliath in iraq keepin my fellow soldiers safe....IED? Pfft scratched paint

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Zid

well they wouldn't put exposed "repair panels" how do those little panels repair that tank anyway?

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